Quinoa is super nutritious food, however, initially I had hard time cooking it in a way that is tasty as well. I have been experimenting for some time now, and happy to share one of the best outcomes! The ground beef and quinoa tacos or tortillas are both: healthy and delicious. Enjoy!
Ground Beef and Quinoa Tortillas (Tacos)
This is a delicious taco/tortillas recipe made from ground beef and quinoa. Easy to make and super tasty.
Servings: 10 tortillas
Calories: 217kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ lbs ground beef
- 1 cup tri-color quinoa
- 10 yellow corn tortillas
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 small lemon
- ½ medium bell pepper
- ½ cup marinara
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- ½ tsp pink Himalayan salt
- 1 tsp cilantro
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 medium avocado
- 10 leaves fresh mint
Instructions
Prep
- Wash hands with soap and water. Wash hands after handling the meat too. Check out our article about how to wash hands properly
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
- Gently rub produce under cold running water. Scrub firm produce with a clean vegetable brush under running water.
- Rinse the quinoa using a fine-mesh strainer under cold water for 1-2 minutes
- With a glass juicer squeeze the lemon. You will need 2 tbsp of the lemon juice
- Finely chop the fresh leaves of mint.
Cook the quinoa
- Bring 1 ¼ cups warm water to boil in a stainless steel small saucepan. Add 1 cup of tri-colored quinoa. Boil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Turn heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove the saucepan from the heat, fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- If you are not ready with the mixture when the quinoa has absorbed all the water, then just set aside the quinoa until ready to include in the mixture.
Cook the mixture
- While the quinoa is cooking, over a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan brown ½ pound ground beef.
- While the ground beef is being browned, fine chop the 2 cloves garlic and the yellow onion. You can also pre-chop it ahead of time. Add to the browned beef and sauté until the onion gets soft (about 2 minutes).
- While the onion and the ground beef are frying, finely chop the ½ bell pepper. Add to the mixture. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Season the mixture with ¼ tsp white ground pepper, ½ tsp pink Himalayan salt, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cilantro, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and ½ cup marinara. Simmer for 1 minute for the mixture to blend. Add 1/3 warm water, the quinoa, and half of the freshly chopped mint.
Bake dish
- Pour mixture into the baking dish.
- Cover (with lid or aluminum foil) and bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes (if you are using cheese, bake until the cheese is melted).
- Remove from oven and let cool for few minutes.
Assemble the tortillas
- Cook the tortillas according to package
- Lay one tortilla on a plate. Add the cooked mixture, avocado, fresh mint, and any other ingredients you enjoy with your tortillas or tacos.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Notes:
- I like using the tri-color quinoa because I am a fan of balancing nutrients. I believe every color brings different nutrients and when I cook I enjoy balancing them out.
- I use ground beef, turkey or bison meat. In this recipe, I happen to be using organic grass fed ground beef.
- You can use black ground pepper instead of the white one. I usually substitute them in my recipes. Just remember to use a little bit more from the black ground pepper as the white one is richer.
- I use my homemade stock instead of water in this recipe (i.e. when I boil veggies, meat, etc I freeze the stock)
- We are extremely excited to announce we are now using the saferecipeguide.org guidelines to make our recipe safe-friendly. We will slowly be incorporating the safe recipe guidelines into our recipe instructions!
Nutrition
Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 169mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 550IU | Vitamin C: 22.3mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 2.3mg
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